Web-feed control mechanism



p 1929- L. E. LA BOMBARD ET AL WEB FEED CONTROL MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 6, 1926 mm H VI. 055 T w R N .m WZW W7 N A mg 7 W 4M0: .1 a Q v i L M Z I x g S p 1929- E. LA BOMBARD ET AL 1,727,208

WEB FEED CONTROL MECHANISM Filed Dec. 6, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 v/v TURS. Zia/vi. AA BUNBAELL M51. V/NH. S/DEBUTHA/Z A 7 TERA/EX Patented Sept. 3, 1929.

UITED v STA LEON ELLA BOMBARD AND MELVIN'H. SI

DEIGOTHAM, OF CHELSEA, MASSACHUSETTS,

ASSIGNORS TO SPECIALTY AUTOMATIC MACHINE COMPANY, OF CHELSEA, MAS- SACH'USE'ITS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

WEB-FEED CONT Application filed December This invention relates to mechanism for unwinding a supply roll of sheet material such as paper and advancing it towardother mechanism which is to operate thereon, and the invention refers particularly to means for intermittently and positively pulling the web from the roll according to the speed with which it is required to be fedto said other operating mechanism such as printing or cutting devices. v v 7 When a web of material is pulled from a supply roll, the inertia and momentum, of the roll gradually decreases. When the pull 1s intermittent or the speed of travel of the web toward the other mechanism varies, the supply rollfirst resists the pull and then is liable to rotate too far. a I v v The object of our invention is to provide mechanism for feeding aweb of sheet material such as paper having means for positively feeding the web but which will cause the positive feed-mechanism to act intermittently or, in other words, to stop and start the p'ullingof the web from the supply roll according to the speed or continuity of travel of theweb toward the mechanism or machine which is to operate further upon the web such as by printing or cutting it. A he Another object of the invention is to provide means for insuring accurate cehtralization of the web leaving the supply roll even if the Web is not wound evenly on the core of the The side members 12 of supply roll.- a I,

l/Vith the above objects in view, the invention consists in the construction and combination of parts substantially as hereinafterdescribed and claimed. Of the accompanying drawings: I Figure 1 is a perspectiye view of the mechanism in which our present iinprovementsare embodied, it being unnecessary to illustrate any particular mechanism to which the web is fed for printing, cutting, or other treatment. 1 j p 'Figure 2 represents a longitudinal section of the mechanismillustratedby Figure 1.

Figure 3' is a detail elevation looking in the direction of thearrow 3, Figure 1. v f

Figure 4 is a detail sectional View, v Similar reference characters designate similar parts in all of the views. I v

the frame, connect- ROL MECHANISM.

6, 1926. Serial No. 152,749.

ed by tie rods some of which are illustrated at '13, are provided with bearings 14 for supporting the shaft 15 hereinafter referred to as the core shaft. As is customary in'other types of machines, the roll of web material is removably carried by the core shaft 15,'and

the latter is removably supported by the bearlugs 14. 2 I

The web W from the supply roll on the core shaft passes under a roll 16 supported by arms 17jrigidly secured to and dependingfrom a shaft 18 mounted in suitable bearings in the frame members 12, said shaft havin a gear 19 meshing with a worm 20 mounted to rotate in bearings 21and having a crank handle 22 by means of which the shaft 18 may be adjusted rotatively so that the roll 16 may be swung to a position more or less under the shaft 18 to vary'the tension on theweb which 1 passes over the shaft 18 on its Way to the nip of the primary feed rolls 23, 24.

Owing to the ,factfthat the primary feed rolls 23, 24, are both positively driven, the mechanism is capable of operating equally as well on thickpaper as on thin paper, evenv when the web is under considerable tension.

As is well known, paper in web form is liable to curl." fWhenthe paper is thick and curls whendrawn from the supply roll, the crank .22 is operated to swing the arms 17 so as to carry the roll 16 far enough under the shaft 18 to so increase the tension hereinbefore referred to, as to take out all'curl. Such increase of tension however does not interfere with the proper automatic operation of the mechanism because both of the primary feed rolls 23, 24, are positively driven and gripthe web firmly. v

. The shaft 25 of the upper roll 23 is mounted at its ends in apair of arms 28 at the opposite sides of the machine said arms being carried by a rock shaft 27, the ends of the arms having adjustable connections 28 with the upper ends of two links 29 at opposite sides of the frame of the machine. The lower end of each link 29 has an opening fitted to an eccentri cally projectingpart 30 of. a rock shaft 31 (Figs. 1 and 4). Said rockshaft 31 is mounted in ball bearings 32 provided in the frame 12 of the machine, andat an intermediate point ofits length, saidrockshaft has a counter weight 33 adjustably mounted I upon a pin 34 projecting from a bracket secured to the rock shaft.

The rock shaft 31 has, rigidly connected to it, an arm 35 which projects under a weight roll 36 mounted to slide in guides 37.

The web W passes from the feed rolls 23 and 24 under the weight roll 36, and then be tween upper rolls 38 and 39, and from the latter to whatever mechanism is to operate upon the web. For some purposes, both the rolls 38 and 39 may be driven and in such close relationship as to exert a pull on the web W. For other purposes, the roll 39 may be simply an idle one and in such a case the mechanism which is to print, out or otherwise act upon the web, may do the pulling of the web.

The operation of the machine as so far described is as follows:

l/Vhateveris acting upon the web to pull it so as to have a tendency to lift the weight roll 36, is able to perform its functions without being affected by the inertia and momentum of the supply roll, for the following reasons. The rolls 23 and 24 which are positively driven have a tendency to act as a primary web feeding mechanism pulling with a continuous speed from the supply roll. If this speed of pull from the supply roll is faster than the speed of travel desired for the web after it leaves the rolls 38 and 39, the weight roll 36 will descend far enough in the loop of the web (Fig. 3) to act upon the arm 35 of .the rock shaft so as to actuate said rock shaft and cause its eccentrics 30 to act through the links 29 to raise the upper positive feed roll 23 slightly but just far enough from the web to arrest primary feeding of the web. Then when the mechanism, which is operating upon the web to print or otherwise treat it, has drawn the web far enough to raise the weight roll 36 from the arm 35, the counter weight 33 effects a return movement of the links 29 so as to lower the upper primary feed roll 23 into feeding relationship with the roll 24.

The reason for the adjustable connections 28 between the arms 26 and the links 29 is to enable an adjustment to be effected at any time if the web that is being operated upon is thick or thin. And, of course, it also enables the proper relationship to be obtained between the rolls 23 and 24 so that the web will be gripped with practical uniformity across its entire width. It is essential that the'web leaving the supply roll shall be centralized even if the web is not wound evenly or if its ends are more or less concave or convex. To insure proper centralization of the web we provide a rock shaft 40 having arms '41 (Figs. 2 and 3) having bearings for a shaft 42, said shaft having a roll 43 at its mid-length to bear against the mid-width of the web of paper on the supply roll, the shaft also having disks 44 of a size to extend partly within the circumference of the ends of the supply roll. Projecting from blocks 45 secured to the shaft 40 are arms or pins 46 having weights 47 adj ustably mounted thereon, said weights having a tendency to retain the disks 41 in the relationship to the supply roll indicated in the drawings, regardless of the gradually reducing diameter of the web roll.

The shaft 15 of the supply roll is mounted so that it can shift longitudinally in its bearings and at one end said shaft 15 extends beyond the frame and is provided with a friction hub 48. Embracing the friction hub 48 is a friction band 49 having an opening and projections through which an adjusting screw 50 passes to vary the frictional grip of the band 49 on the hub 48. Saidfriction band has a pin 51 (Fig. 1) extending under a fixed stop pin 52 projecting from the frame, said stop pin 52 having a length sufficient to perform its function in connection with the friction band and its pin even if the shaft 15 and its friction hub and embracing friction band shift more or less in the direction of the length of the shaft 15.

Referring now to Fig. 3 it will be understood that if, as the supply roll becomes less in diameter, the outer layers of the web should be more or less to one side relatively to the inner coils of the web so that operation of the machine as a whole could not draw or pull the web evenly, the presence of the disks 44 will insure centralization of the, web. In other words, if the supply roll is concave at one end and convex atthe other end, and if its core shaft 15 could not shift longitudinally and controllably, then the web would not pass properly to the feed rolls. The shaft 42 and its disks 44 can never move axially, but the core shaft 15 can; therefore, the actual portion of the web which is being drawn from the supply roll will always be in accurate lateral position.

Inasmuch as the various shafts may be driven by any suitable gearing, detail description thereof will be unnecessary. Suitable gearing is, however, indicated in Fig. 1, to effect the positive drive hereinbefore referred to.

Having now described our invention, we claim 1. A web-feed control mechanism having a pair of coacting primary rolls both of which are positively driven and are. of equal length to uniformly engage both surfaces of a web, a rock shaft having a pair of arms, the upper of said primary rolls being supported by said arms, a link connected to each of said arms, a rock shaft having eccentric connections with both of said links, a guide roll for a loop of the web, said guide roll being mounted to rise and fall, and an arm projecting from said rock shaft and extending under the guide roll.

2. A web-feed control mechanism having a pair of coacting primary rolls both of which are positively driven and are of equal length to uniformly engage both surfaces of a Web, a rock shaft having a pair of arms, the upper of said primary rolls being supported by said arms, a link adjustably connected to each of said arms, a rock shaft having eccentric connections with both of said links, a guide roll for a loop of the Web, said guide r011 being mounted to rise and fall, and acounterbalanced arm projecting from said rock shaft and extending under said guide r011.

In testimony whereof We have aflixed our signatures. 

